Bottle-washing machine



J A. JOHNSON.

BOTT LE WASHING MACHINE APPLICATION FILED OCT-20.19l7.

1 ,305,370. Pal'anted June 3, 1919.

Zlnvewt 01 H JOHNSUN affomwq J. A. JOHNSON.

BOTTLE WASHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT.20.19|I.

Patented June 3, 1919.

4 SHEETSSHEET 2 James H JOHNSON J. A. JOHNSON.

BOTTLE WASHING MACHlNE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 20 1911.

Patented June 3, 1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

anon 1450';

m Nmv Patented June 3, 1919.

4 SHEETSSHEET 4.

JfiMEs HJoHNsoN JAMES A. JOHNSON, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

BOTTLE-WASHING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 3, 1919.

Application filed October 20, 1917. Serial No. 197,666.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES A. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Richmond, in the county of Henrico' and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottle-Washing Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings. Y

This invention relates to Washing machines designed for cleansin bottles, and more particularly to certain improvements on the mechanism described in Patent No. 1,210,484, granted me on January 2nd, 1917 This patent disclosesa machine by which .bottles are carried along a predetermined being supplied with water during this'operation, and the brushes movin with the bottles and the bottle carrier tor a predetermined period, and then moving downward out of the bottles and when the brushes had cleared the bottles, moving rearward beneath another lot of bottles and again being moved upward into engagement therewith.

This patent further discloses means moving with a plurality of bottles for spraying Water within'the bottles after they have been cleaned, soas to remove any possible adherforeign matter.

he general object of this present invention is to improve upon the construction illustrated in my prior patent by providing improved means for shifting the carrier suppor ting the brushes longitudinally of the smfi 'chine' and in consonance with the movement of the bottle carrier, and retracting this carriage -to its initial position, this means for shifting the carriage being such that no strain comes upon the bottle carrier itself.

A further object is to provide improved means for raising and lowering the carriage with its connected brushes, and spray pipes.

- washed.

A further object is to provide improved means for holding the bottles in place upon the endless carrier, while they are being acted upon by the cleansing brushes.

Still another object is to provide means for forcing compressed air and water through the spray pipes, and in this connection to provide spraying roses upon the ends of the spray pipes of an improved form so that every portion of the interior of the bottle will be thoroughly sprayed and washed.

A further object is to provide an improved form of bottle holder or socket, and another object is'to provide means whereby the exterior surface of the bottle may be thoroughly washed while the interiors of the bottles are being scrubbed.

Still another object is to provide means whereby the motor may be stopped in case an operator does not remove a cleaned bottle from the endless carrier at the time when the bottle should be removed, thus preventing the bottle being carried around and so clogging the machine as to prevent the movement of the endless carrier, and break or other wise damage the operating Inachinery, and specifically to provide means whereby, the circuit to an electric motor may be broken if the bottle is not removed, the removal of the bottle immediately and automatically closing the circuit through the electric motor so that the machine will be started.

A further object is to provide a hood housing the washing mechanism so as to prevent the sprays of water used in cleaning s the exterior of the bottles from being discharged into the room after the bottles are Other objects Will appear in the course of the following description, and relates to the details of construction and arrangement of parts, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

the line 33 of.

Figfl is a horizontal section (in-the j being.

4l of Fig. 1, the gearing being omitted, however, for the sake of clearness;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary rear elevation of the carriage and the means for actuating it;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary top plan view of a portion of the carrier and the beams 3, the bottle holder being in section;

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 77 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view partly in elevation of the carriage, the water reservoir and the brush spindles;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary perspective view of the means for washing the exterior of the bottles and holding the bottles against movement on the carrier;

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view through the bar 102;

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary perspective view of the spray pipes showing their connection to the water tank;

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary sectional view of a bottle with a sprayer inserted therein Fig. 13 is a transverse sectional view of the carriage 26;

Fig. 14 is a fragmentary perspective view of the circuit breaker;

Fig. 15 is a diagrammatic sectional view of the pumping cylinders and their connections.

Fig. 16 is a face view of the cam 61, the cam shaft being shown in section.

Referring to these drawings, it will be seen that my machine comprises a frame consisting of vertical members 2 and horizontal members 3. The members 3 are arranged in spaced relation and an endless carrier 4 moves between these horizontal members.

The horizontal members operatively support 13 are supported at the end of the horizontal members 3 remote from the sprocket wheels 7 and the endless carrier 4 passes downward and under the sprocket wheels. 13 to the lower flight of the endless carrier. The carrier at its upper flight passes over the sprocket wheels 7, 8 and 13. then downward from the sprocket wheels 13 to the sprocket wheels 11 and from the sprocket wheels 11 it passes over the sprocket wheels 12 to wheels The sprocket wheels 11 are shown as being shiftably mounted so that the endless carrier may be tightened, screws l-l being used for this purpose.

The endless carrier is composed of links pivoted to each other in the usual manner, and the parallel chains composed of these links are connected by cross pieces 17 each of these cross pieces carrviug upon it a bottle receivingcup 16, having a neck adapted to receive the neck of a bottle and a bowl portion adapted to receive that portion of the bottle which connects the body of the bottle to the neck. Each of these bottle receiving cups or sockets is preferably lined with rubber or other suitable like material. The neck of the bottle receiving cup is bolt ed, riveted or otherwise attached to the cross piece 15 and disposed within the neck is an annular collar upon which the lower end of the bottle is adapted to rest, the central opening in this collar having the same diameter as the interior diameter of the bottle neck. These cups or holders are arranged in spaced relation upon the carrier and are adapted to support the bottles A in an inverted position, while the carrier is moving along its upper flight. The sprocket wheels 8 are mounted upon the shaft 6, which is operatively connected to the driving shaft of the machine in any suitable manner. As shown the driving shaft of the machine is designated 20 and carries upon it a sprocket wheel 21 over which passes a sprocket chain which engages a relatively large sprocket wheel 23 mounted on the shaft An idler sprocket wheel 24 engages the lower flight of the chain 22 and keeps the chain taut.

In order to support a plurality of bottle cleansing brushes and cause the rotation of these brushes and the vertical and longitudinal movement of the brushes. I provide longitudinally extending. laterally disposed rails 25, which are operatively attached to the longitudinal members Slidably mounted upon these rails is a carriage 26, preferably formed in two sections, the inner faces of the sections being recessed to form a gear chamber 27. The ends of the carriage are laterally enlarged as at 29 and grooved as at 30. The grooves in the lateral extensions are adapted to engage with the rails It will be seen that the carriage is held from lateral movement but may be longitudinally shifted upon the rails 25.

Disposed within the gear chamber of the carriage are a plurality of gear wheels 33, shown as four in number, though more or less gear wheels may be used, depending upon the number of brush shafts and brushes to be operated. These gear wheels form a train meshing with each other and each gear wheel has an upwardly extending annular sleeve 34 extending out through the top of the carriage. Each gcarat its center has a many-sided bore through which the corresponding brush shaft 36 passes. This brush shaft 36, as illustrated in Fig. 13. has a portion of its length many-sided to fit the bore and each shaft is hollow for its entire length. At its lower end each shaft is mounted in a stepped bearing 37 carried upon the upper face of the water reservoir 39, which has an opening 38 discharging into the corresponding shaft.

has vertical movement so as to carr This .water reservoir is movable vertically by means which will be later described.

The 'several gears 33 are actuated by provi one of the ars with a sleeve 40, carrying the bevele gear wheel 41 meshing with a beveled gear wheel 42 on a transverse shaft 43, which is mounted in a bracket depending from and attached to the under side of the carriage 26. Mounted upon the shaft 43 is a fgtear wheel 45 and depending from the sha 43 and swingingly mounted thereon, on opposite sides of the gear wheel 45- are links 46, which support a shaft 47, which carries a gear wheel 48. This gear wheel 48 meshes with the gear wheel 49, mounted upon the shaft 50, and supported in suitable fixed bearings. Links 51 are disposed on each side of the gear wheel '48 and engaged with the movable shaft 47 and with the fixed shaft 50. The shaft 50 on the opposite side of the machine carries upon it a belt wheel 52, which is driven by means of a belt 53 from an electric motor 54.

The water chamber or reservoir 39, which carries the lower ends of the brush spindlilels, t e brushes upward into the bottles and ownward out of the bottles. To this end, I pro vide the crank shaft 55 (see Fig. 5) having a crank 56 carrying at its outer end the roller 57 and constituting a member movable in a closed path. The water reservoir 39 has upon one side a flange 58, this flange extending horizontally along the side edge of the water reservoir andat its rear end extending straight downward and then downward and toward the shaft 55 as at 59. A rotation of the shaft 55 in a counter-clockwise direction causes the roller 57 to bear against the flange 58, and lift the water reservoir until the roller reaches the opposite end of the flange 58, whereupon the roller en ages with the hook shaped portion 59 o the flange and draws the water reservoir with its connected brush spindles downward until the roller escapes from the portion 59. The crank arm 56 then continues to move in a counter-clockwise direction until the roller again engages the flange 59 whereupon the operation is repeated. Thus the reservoir 39 is intermittently raised and lowered and there is a certain amount of dwell when the reservoir has been raised and when it has been lowered. It will also be seen that as the reservoir is rising, the brushes will move upward into the bottles with which the brushes are in engagement and at the same time, the brushes will be rotated. Then the water reservoir is drawn downward so as to carry the brushes out of the bottles and left in its lowered position without vertical movement, while the reservoir 39 and the carriage 26 are movingrearward so as to come beneath a new set of bottles.

In order to rotate the shaft 55, I mount upon it the sprocket wheel 60 having teeth which engage with the downwardly extending flight ofthe sprocket chain 22. I' do not however, wish to be limited to this means of operating the shaft.

For the purpose of causing the carriage 26 and the water conveyer 39 to shift lon tudinally and travel with the bottle carrier for a certain predetermined portion of the movement of the latter, I provide a cam 61 mounted upon the framework of the machine in any suitable manner, this cam being mounted upon a shaft 62 carrying a sprocket Wheel 63, driven by a sprocket chain 64, which passes over a drivi sprocket wheel 65, mounted upon the shaft 20, this shaft carrying at one end the relatively large gear Wheel 53, which is driven from the shaft 50. The cam 61 is provided upon one face with a cam groove 66 and connected to the carriage 26 is a rod 67,

which at one end carries a laterally extending roller 68 engaging in this camv groove. This cam groove is so laid out that it will give a relatively slow movement of the carria e in the direction of movement of the to, I showed means for operatively engaging the carriage 26 and the Water reservoir 39 with the endless carrier or chain, so that the carriage 26 and its connected parts were moved forward by the endless carrier itself, but I have found in practice that this places a considerable strain upon the endless carrier, which isobviated by providing means' entirely separate from the endless carrier, whereby the carriage and its connected parts may be reciprocated. I also secure a positive movement of the carriage, both with the carrier and reversely of the carrier and by modifying the cam, I can, of course, secure any desired forward speed of the carriage and any desired retractive speed.

I have illustrated in Fig. 1, four brush spindles 36 mounted upon the carria c 35 and four bottle" washing pipes 69. hese pipes are supported in perforations 70 in a rod 71, which is connected to the. carriage 26 and also in a bracket 71? connected to the tank 39. These water pipes 69, of course, move vertically with the carriage. Each of these pipes at its upper end is provided with a rose or bulb 72 formed with a plurality of perforations 73 S0 disposed as to cause the water to be discharged upward and outward in streams having divergent relation, the angle of these streams being such that the water will strike the junction of the body of the bottle with its bottom. The top of the rose is provided with one or more perforations whereby a stream of water may be directed against the bottom of the bottle (see Fig. 12).

The reservoir 39, which constitutes a header whereby all of the brush spindles are supplied with water, is intended to be connected to the said water supply or any other suitable source of water, by means of a pipe 74, but I design to supply air and water under a certain degree of compression to the spray pipes 69 and to this end I mount upon the frame of the machine, in any suitable manner, the'air compressing cylinders 'and the water pumping cylinder 76. Each of these cylinders is open at one end and closed at the other end by a cap 80. Pistons 81 operate within the cylinders 75, and a piston 82 operates within the cyl inder 76.- The pistons 81 are connected by piston rods 83 lo the carriage 26, and the piston 82 is connected by a piston rod 84: to the piston rods 83, so that all the pistons move together (see Fig. 4). Each of the air cylinders 75 (see Fig. 15-) is provided with an air inlet valve 85, the valve 8.5

opening inward but closing upon interior pressure.- Each of these cylinders 75 is also provided with an outlet Valve 86 closing upon an outward movement of the pistons 81, but opening upon an inward movement of the pistons. The outlet openings of the cylinders 75 are connected by pipes 87 to a pipe 88, which in turn connects with a discharge pipe 89. The water pumping cylin der 76 is provided with an inlet valve 90 controlling the inlet of water from the pipe 91 to the water pumping cylinder and an outlet valve 92 controls the outlet of water from the pumping cylinder 76 through the pipe 93, which connects with the pipe 89. The pipe 91 connects to any suitable source of supply and it will be obvious that as the pistons are reciprocated the air will be compressed in the cylinders 75 and will be forced out through the outlet valvesinto the pipe 89 and at the same time, water will be forced out from the cylinder 76 into this pipe 89. The pipe 89 leads to a header 94, which in turn is connected to the lower ends of each of the spray pipes 69.

It will be obvious now that upon a retraction of the carriage, the pistons will be retracted and air and water respectively will be drawn into the cylinders 75 and 76, but that upon a forward movement ofthe carriage with the endless carrier supporting the bottles that air and water will be forced out from the pumping cylinders into the spray pipes and discharged with force into the interi r of the bottles. For the pose of washing the exterior surfaces of the bottles, 1 provide the spray pipes 95 connected to a -header or supply pipe 96, which in turn is zontally and then downward and the inner or confronting faces of the spray pipes are provided with perforations 98. As the bottles are carried beneath these spray pipes, water is sprayed over the outer surfaces of the bottles, thoroughly cleansing them.

In order to hold the bottles in place while they are being acted upon by the brushes 71. I attach to the beams or frame members 3, the vertically extending standards 99, and adjustably engaged with these standards are the U-shaped supporting members 100. These members are vertically slotted as at 101 and binding screws pass through these slots and into the standards 99, so that the U-shaped members may be adjusted for height. Attached to the cross bars of the U-shaped members is a longitudinally extending strip or bar of sheet metal 102, the ends of which are upwardly turned. Preferably the ends of this strip 102 are connected to the cross bars of the U-shaped members by means of bolts 103 and springs 104 which act to force the strip 102 yieldingly downward into contact with the butt ends of the bottles, thus holdin the bottles firmly in place while they are Eeing acted upon by the brushes. The frictional engagement of the strip 102 with the butt ends of the bottles is not great enough, however, to impede the forward movement of the carrier or put too much strain upon the 105 carrier.

Preferably I provide a hood 105* 'to inclose the spray pipe 95 and the holding strip 102 and to surround and house the bottles as they are being scrubbed and washed. This hood is approximately U-sha-ped in transverse section and is open at its ends and is preferably mounted between the four standards 105, which extend upward from the beams 3 and are suitably supported in any desired manner. The'hood is normally lowered, of course, but may be lifted so as to uncover the bottle scrubbing and washing mechanism. The standards 105 carry at their upper ends the platform 106 upon which is mounted the electric motor 54, whereby this machine'and the soaking machine which is described in my pending applieation. Serial No. 197.665,- filed on the 20th day of October, are run.

In the operation of this mechanism, after the bottles have been washed, they move alon I to the righthand end of the machine in Fig. 1 and are designed to be removed by the operator. The operator may be negli- 130 gent, in which case the bottle will not be removed but may be carried around over the sprocket wheel 13 and so downward and strike the floor. Presumably the bottle will be broken under these circumstances, which of course is not desirable, but also this bottle may simply jam between the carrier and the floor and in this case the machine is very liable to be damaged by the sudden stoppage and clogging of the carrier. To prevent this I have devised means for breaking the circuit through the motor ii? the bottle is not removed at the proper time, and to this end I mount upon one of the rails 3, a circuit breaker designated generally 107 and comprising two arms 108 and 109, the arm 109 being longer than the arm 108 and projecting into the path of movement of the bottles. The arm 109 is resilient and the resilience of this arm urges it toward the arm 108. The arms are provided with suitable contacts and are insulated from each other and the arms are connected in circuit by wires 110 to the motor 54L. Under normal circumstances, the circuit from the source of current to the motor 54 is completed through the contacts carried by the arms 108 and 109,

but if the bottle be not removed from its socket or cup at the proper time, then. the bottle will strike the arm 109, move it away from the arm 108 and the circuit through the motor will be broken, bringing the motor to a stop, before any damage is done. I do not wish to limit myself to this particular form of circuit breaker as it is obvious that other forms might be used actuated by the presence of a bottle in the cup. It is obvious also that when it is desired to bring the machine to a standstill it is only necessary to leave the bottles in the receiving cups or sockets and that then the circuit breaker will be antomatically opened and the current cut ofi from the motor and the current will remairn cut 05 until the bottle is removed, whereupon the circuit breaker will close and the machine will start up.

The general operation or this machine will be obvious from What has gone before. It is to be understood that -the machine is preierably to be used with a soaker which forms the subject matter of a separate application previously referred to and that in this soaker the bottles are soaked in a tank containing suitable cleansing solution and that then the bottles are carried out of the tank on an endless carrier and that this endless carrier'drops the'bottles into the socket or cups 16, as previously described. The bottles then move forward toward "the scrubbingbrushes and as one set ct :rour bottles arrives in position over the scrubbing brushes, the brush spindles are elevated into the bottles and at this time the cam acts to shift the carriage 96 longitudinally with the endless carrier. li hile the carriage is moving with the endless carrier and the brush spindles are elevated, the brush spin dles are rotated and Water -is forced through the brush spindles, thus scrubbing the interior surfaces of the bottle. YVhen the carriage has reached the end of its stroke, the carriage moves quickly backward, the brush spindles are again raised and enter four fresh bottles, while the spray pipes 69 are projected into the bottles which have just been-scrubbed and compressed air and water are sprayed into these bottles at a relatively high pressure, thus thoroughly cleansing the interior of the bottles. While the bottles are passing beneath the hood, they are submitted to the action of the outside spray pipes, thus cleansing the outer faces of the bottles. The bottles are then removed When they arrive at the proper places. The particular advantage of this machine is that it may be operated by only two operators, one operator placing the bot tles in the bottle racks of the soaker and another operator removing the bottles after they are cleaned. The bottles are thoroughly cleansed by the mechanism heretofore described, and put in proper condition for use with a minimum of handling. The amount of power necessary to operate the machine is relatively small and considerable economy in time and greater efi'ectiveness is secured.

Having thus fully described my invention, What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is Y 1. A bottle washing machine including an endless bottle carrier moving ruptcdly in one direction, a plurality of hottle engaging devices mounted for movement into or out oi the path of movement of the carrier, means for reciprocating the bottle engaging devices parallel to the plane of movement of the carrier, and means for reciprocating the devices toward or from the carrier, comprising a member operatively connected to the device and having a face extending in the direction of movement of the carrier, and a roller moving in a circular path in the same plane as said memberand engaging the face thereof to raise and lower the member, said member being longitudinal with the bottle engaging devices.

2. A bottle 'Washing machine including an endless bottle carrier moving uninterruptedly in one direction, a plurality of bottle engaging devices mounted for movement into or out of the path of movement of the carrier, means for reciprocating the bottle engaging devices parallel to the plane of movement of the carrier, and means for reciprocating tie bottle engaging devices toward or vfrom the carrier comprising a member operatively connected to the bottle engaging devices and having a flange extending parallel to the carrier, said at uninterone end being downwardly turned and ex tended parallel to the body of the flange for a distance less than the length of the body of the flange, and a member movable in a closed path and having a roller engagcablc with the flange and with the reversely turned end thereof.

3. A bottle Washing machine including an endless bottle carrier moving uninterruptedly in one direction, a carriage disposed below the bottle carrier and reciprocatable in a plane parallel to the bottle carrier, "bottle engaging devices mounted on the carriage and vertically reciprocatable independently thereof, means for reciprocating the carriage in a horizontal plane, and means for vertically reciprocating the bottle engaging devices comprising a flange operatively connected to the bottle engaging devices to move therewith and extending in a horizontal plane, one end of the flange being downwardly turned and then extended reversely parallel to the body of the flange for a distance less than the length of the body or" the flange, a shaft, an arm carried by the shaft, and a roller carried by the arm and engagingthe under face of the body of the flange to lift the water reservoir and engaging with the reversely turned end of the flange to lower the bottle engaging devices and then escaping from its engagement with the inwardly turned end of the flange.

4. A bottle washing machine including an endless bottle carrier moving uninterruptedly in one direction, tracks disposed below ,the bottle carrier, a carriage reci'procatably mounted upon said tracks, means operatively engaged with said carriage to cause a movement of the carriage with the bottle carrier in one direction and a relatively rapid reverse movement of the carriage, a plurality of hollow brush spindles extending upward through the carriage, rotatably and slidably mounted therein, means in the brush carriage for rotating said brush spindles, a vertically reeiprocable water reservoir to which the lower ends of the brush spindles are connected, and means for vertically reciprocating the water reservoir, including a flange formed on the reservoir and extending horizontally, one end of the flange being downwardly and reversely extended arallel to the body oi the flange for a relatively short distance, and a crank shaft having a roller engaging the under face oft-he flange upon an upward inovei'nent oi"? the roller, said roller en the rave l extending portion o; the so to draw the water reserpgiy d v w downward moveof then escaping the returned portion slpi dcililllii'f tween the cylinders and the spray pipes, and

operative connections between the carriage and the pistons.

6. A bottle washing machine including an endless bottle carrier, tracks disposed below the bottle carrier, a carriage reciprocatably mounted upon said tracks, means for shifting the carriage in one direction in time with the movement of the carrier and re tracting said carriageto its initial position, a plurality of brush spindles mounted upon the carriage moving longitudinally therewith but independently shiftable into or out of the path of" movement of the carrier, means for shifting said spindles into and out of the path of movement of the carrier and for rotating said spindles, a plurality of spray pipes operatively supported by the carriage, and movable therewith, and opera tively connected to the brush spindles to move therewith into or out of the path of movement of the carrier, and. means for supplying air and water under pressure to said spray pipes including an air cylinder having an inlet valve and an outlet valve, a water cylinder having an inlet valve and an outlet valve, a supply pipe leading to the spray pipe, connections between the air and water cylinder and said supply pipe, and pistons operating within said cylinders and operatively connected-with the carriage to reciprocate therewith.

7 A bottle washing machine including an endless bottle carrier, means for moving the bottle carrier uninterruptedly in one direction includinga gear wheel, a carriage su ported for reciprocating movement parall l to the bottle carrier, a plurality of spindles rotatably mounted in the carriage, means i, a 1 14 w e to the carriage, halt, means operato the first dles to the drive shaft including a plurality In testimony whereof I hereunto aifix my of gear wheels, one of which is mounted slgnature in the presence of tWo Witnesses.

upon the carriage and moves therewith, in JAMES A. JOHNSON. its longitudinal reciprocating movement, Witnesses: 5 and means for transmittin the power of T. P. WEST,

the drive shaft to the cam s aft. THA J. PAGE. 

